Khalil Gibran Muhammad, 38

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Director

Where is Khalil Gibran now?

Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Updated October 12, 2012
By Daniel Massey

It might seem fitting that the great-grandson of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad would become a scholar of African-American history. But Khalil Muhammad was only 2 when the legendary figure died. He grew up hoping to be "an important businessperson one day."

Until he got to the University of Pennsylvania, that is. There, while majoring in economics, he gained a different perspective through his courses in African-American studies.

"I became much more aware of the history of inequality," he said. "It started to become more important to me than making money."

After surviving three years as an accountant at Deloitte & Touche, he enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Rutgers University. A book based on his dissertation, which assesses how ideas about black criminality shaped urban America, was published last year.

Mr. Muhammad beat out 200 others vying to replace Howard Dodson, the longtime director of the Schomburg Center, a unit of the New York Public Library devoted to preserving materials on the global African experience. His biggest challenge could come in contending with cuts to the center's $5.4 million budget. He starts at the center in July.

He hopes to attract a younger audience by securing the papers of cultural icons such as Mos Def, Kanye West and Jeffrey Wright. And he won't shy away from using the Schomburg to provide historical context for ongoing discussions about race.

"Khalil is an engaged and informed intellectual with deep, deep passion for his subject," said Thelma Golden, director of The Studio Museum in Harlem. "More important, he's someone who will exist as an important public intellectual, bridging the gap between the academy and the outside world."